Now I'm angry.... nay, furious

So it's time to appoint a new assistant as the one we appointed last year has moved to Exeter City Council to become their Website Administrator. Fair enough.

Anyway, we put an ad in last week for a new web development assistant and the first call I get is from an internal applicant who I knew, called Leon. Now, I knew Leon through work anyway and he'd leant me an episode of Enterprise on video earlier in the year. I thought he was an okay bloke and was enthusiastic for him to send in an application form.

Anyway, this morning the boss comes in and tells me that the guy reported me to Human Resources because he was unimpressed with my attitude, bearing in mind the guy is blind. The one thing that he had neglected to mention to the HR people was that he hadn't TOLD me he was blind!!! So now I'm in hot water, we've got to gaurantee him an interview and if he meets the requirements for the position, no matter how badly met, he gets the nod over any other more suitable candidate.

 

Yep...sounds like the OU.

When I was at the Career Development training course the trainer was trying to get through to us that when people make complaints, its not personal, its business...

...bollox to that! Sometimes it IS personal.

So what was it about your attitude that he didn't like? The fecker!

 

It sucks. Big time.

 

whadda load of b0ll0cks. Just make sure he really doesn't meet the requirements in the interview. Your boss should be backing you up on this one. Bl00dy coward.

And this may sound stoopid, but.....the blind guy leant you a copy of enterprise?

 

that's positive discrimination against the other candidates. a load of b0ll0cks. I still can't believe your boss is letting this happen.

 

Maybe I'm being really stupid here but how can a blind person see the VDU? I'd have thought that it was an essential criteria to be able to see what you are working on?

 

work always sucks no matter if your right they always take the other side.....I got wronged last week for refusing to sell a woman 3 boxes of painkillers....by law we can only sell 2, the woman complained saying I was rude yet I had 2 customers and 3 members of staff to back me up saying I wasn't but did it matter? nope I was in the wrong

 

He's registered blind... which probably means he's partially sighted. The boss has backed me up. I'm not worried about that.

As for what he didn't like about my attitude, I've no idea at all. I was pretty darn friendly I think. And at no point did he mention the fact he was partially sighted/blind and went straight to Human Res and complained. Within another day I had a call from HR. And this morning I learnt the full story. The guy has weaseled his way into an interview and we have to have a Personnel Officer involved in the shortlisting and interview stages. This sucks simian skins. Not happy at all.

ED: And does it seem to anyone else that those with supposedly less rights than the ordinary folk actually have a shed load more?

 

Sam - first off, sit down, think good thoughts about football, Star Wars and Lord of the Rings!

Feel better now?

Now - correct me if I'm wrong but - you're a web designer yes?
A purely visual medium am I correct?
*Bear with me - I'm being an ingnoramous today! *

Then how can he do the job properly? I'm all for equal rights - if a disabled person can do the same as an abled bodied person and they have the same qualifications then they should have an equal chance at getting the job.

By the sounds of it, you didn't know that he was blind, so where is the case? - by the sounds of it, you encouraged him to go for the post - which I might add is NOT the sign of someone who has an 'attitude' problem.

Sounds like this one has a chip on his shoulder

Of course, the council has to obey the law and give him a fair chance but if there is a more qualified candidate - disability or no - the other guy gets the job.

Simple as that.

Hope this helps!

 

I was just saying to Sam that being a one eyed Bolshevik communist lesbian more or less guarantees you a job in middle management these days.

 

Thanks Becky. Unfortunately in local government the key word is accessibility. Not only access to work, but also access in the website. We have to make sure our websites are accessible to all people who are blind, deaf, blind and deaf, lepers, the lot... in EAL we take a slightly less constrictive approach to it and to be honest, a lot of our sites would fall flat on their faces when gauged for accessibility. This is the kind of situation that makes me wanna get out of this ****.

 

oh god - I would last about 1/2 day there! Sounds as screwed up as the social services dept of a council that I (briefly) worked for.

too many bitches.

 

tis true, Political correctness has gone mad.

Last night in the pub, I was drinking with some old army guys who fought in WW2 and all we did was tell each other racist jokes all night. Doesn't mean we're rascist. At the end of the day a tw@t is a tw@t no matter what colour/disability. and the same goes for nice guys too.

Sounds to me that this guy is a tw@t who exploits his disability.

 

That's what I thought. Bet he's a pillow biter too...

 

Neil told me once that a person from Russia applied for a job here and because they were the best qualified and met all the competancies they had to be invited for the interview; so the OU footed the bill for the person's expenses FROM RUSSIA!!!

Equal Opportunities is equal for everyone who isn't working in the particular workplace.

Hang in there, Sammy. He's obviously trying to feck the system by complaining, thus getting an interview.

 

In my experience, Personnel know who pay their wages.

 

This Leon, isn't Leon Trotsky is he?

[image=http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/photo/t1900a.jpg]

Note:- He's wearing glasses as well.

 

Sounds like "Animal Farm" to me there... you're all supposedly equal, but some are more equal than others.

This is similar to certain people in the spotlight who complain they are being victimised for being gay to try and gloss over their true mistakes...

 

All these so-called "blind" people are just lazy.

 

LOl @ OJK.

 

My Dad (god rest his soul) was partially deaf. He could never hear me when I asked for a tenner to go out.

 

lol! Well this one obviously isn't. He went through all the effort of concocting this grand plan to get this job and is in the process of following it through when by all accounts he'd have got an interview anyway and stood a chance at getting the job. I'm hoping he doesn't apply in time or he is obviously outclassed by someone else. Trouble is, the latter situation doesn't mean a thing here sometimes.

 

give him some cock and bull story of why he didn't get the job. Peruade the lady from personnel that another candidate was better.

I never follow the equal ops policy. The candidate who I get on with best and who I think will fit in with the team best gets the job. The candidates are all nearly equal on ability most of the time and you can always train them up.

 

Um... Cass, no disrespect to your Dad but I think that's something endemic to all dads!

Sam - keeping bits crossed that this is the case. I'm tempted to think (may I be forgiven for thinking this!) that with all the hassle he's caused (especially since he would have gotten an interview all the same!) that the might be perceived as being too much 'trouble'.

Even so - he still has to prove that he is the best candidate for the post.

 

Instead of asking him interview questions, type them all out in font 8 and sellotape them to the far wall of the interview room.